Is Naomi Judd's suicide note a public record?
It may come as no surprise that I believe the note written minutes before the elder Judd -- a successful singer and mother of Wynona and Ashley -- shot herself is a public record. It was among the evidence collected at the scene of her suicide by Tennessee law enforcement officers.
But it may come as a surprise that I do not believe the note is an •open• record. It's unlikely that disclosure of the note would have been required under Kentucky's open records law and the privacy exception -- which authorizes nondisclosure of public records containing information of a personal nature the public disclosure of which constitutes a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=51393
I agree with Ashley Judd that publication of the note was “irresponsible."
https://www.thewrap.com/ashley-judd-calls-for-stronger-suicide-privacy-…
Analytically, the note is easily distinguishable from the 911 call placed from Naomi Judd's home on the day mental illness drove her to suicide. It is distinguishable from the investigative records generated by police and emergency medical teams when they arrived 30 minutes later.
Ashley Judd was publicly critical of law enforcement's callousness in interrogating family members as her mother lay dying. A 30 minute delay by emergency responders in reaching the scene warrants examination.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/31/opinion/ashley-judd-naomi-suicide.ht…
I disagreed with Ashley Judd then and now. While there may be a reasonable explanation for both, it is important that the public be afforded the opportunity to review those records. The 911 records might reveal problems in the emergency dispatch system, or in rendering aid, that can be addressed and resolved. The investigative records might reveal problems with law enforcement officers' interaction with the traumatized family that can be addressed and resolved.
https://kyopengov.org/blog/why-ashley-judd-partially-wrong
Disclosure of these records -- which no doubt contain information of a personal nature -- advances the public's interest in being informed about "what their government is doing." Disclosure would, if nothing else, "subject agency action to public scrutiny" -- and perhaps lead to changes in policy or practice that would correct these problems.
https://law.justia.com/cases/kentucky/court-of-appeals/1994/93-ca-00185…
The •suicide note• -- on the other hand -- does "little to further the citizens' right to know what their government is doing and would not in any real way subject agency action to public scrutiny."
It "touches upon the most intimate and personal features of private lives."
The surviving family members' privacy interest in Naomi Judd's suicide note is strongly substantiated. It reveals nothing about how emergency responders and law enforcement officers discharged their public duties.
Without question, the family's privacy interest in the deeply personal information contained in the suicide note outweighs the public's interest in being informed about what their government is doing.
"Mindful that the policy of disclosure is purposed to subserve the public interest, not to satisfy the public's curiosity, and that [authorities] effectually promoted the public interest" by disclosing the 911 and investigation records, I believe it is likely that a Kentucky court -- applying Kentucky's open records law -- would "hold that further disclosure of information contained in the public record in this case would, as a matter of law, constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."
https://law.justia.com/cases/kentucky/supreme-court/1992/90-sc-498-dg-1…
But this tragedy unfolded in Tennessee, and release of public records related to it -- including Naomi Judd's suicide note -- was governed by Tennessee public records laws. The decision to publish it is a not a question of public records law but is instead a question of gross insensitivity and bad judgment.
It has resulted in demands for new laws that divest Tennesseans of the right to monitor 911 dispatch and law enforcement in non-criminal cases.
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2022/12/06/tennessee-propos…
Sadly, abuses of public records laws -- or records obtained under those laws -- lead to legislative abuses that undermine the public's right to know how its government operates and where it needs improvement.
